The Missionaries of Jesus (MJ) is an international and multicultural religious missionary community. It was founded in the Philippines on 12 June 2002 by a community of religious missionaries called and inspired by the mission and humanity of Jesus, who calls us to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). We call ourselves, ”friends and disciples.” It is our desire to gather more friends and co-disciples.
Our objective is the promotion of the universality of the Christian message through presence (witness and dialogue of life), proclamation, and prayer. Our mission is to unveil the real face of Jesus hidden in our brothers and sisters.We are working in the Philippines (Teresa, Antipolo, Modesta, Cubao, Baguio, Davao, Digos, Lanao), in Papua New Guinea (Lae), in Guatemala (Tierra Blanca) and in the USA (Los Angeles and Brownsville, TX). We focus on evangelization of people, formation of leaders, education of the youth, socio-economic and health needs of the poor and the indigenous people.
In Papua New Guinea, children do not go to school. The schools are so far away. Because of poverty, parents cannot afford to pay school fees. We subsidize the works of four missionaries in four parishes of Papua New Guinea.
We work in Lanao, Philippines. Through our catholic schools, we are involved in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims so that children and young people in school may not be drawn into the cycle of violence. Through these schools, we help the victims of war and its destruction in Marawi City. We work with the Lumad people in Digos, Davao Occidental in the Philippines. They have been neglected by the government especially in the field of education. We have three tribal schools helping children how to read and write. The mountains and rivers do not hinder us from reaching to these communities. In Modesta, Rizal in the Philippines, we work in a very poor parish. More than 50% of the population is very poor, most of them are squatters in the land they occupy.
We work in Peten, located in the northern part of Guatemala. Peten is one of the poorest regions of the country. Most of the people are Maya Indian peasants. They are so poor that often, they could not send their children to school. We visit the fifty communities entrusted to our care.
We are present in a parish with four mission churches in the Diocese of Brownsville in Texas -St Anne’s in Penitas. The weekly collection of the said parish is $400.00. Bishop Flores calls this parish the poorest in the diocese which he also considers as the poorest in the USA.
At present, we have more than twenty seminarians (Filipinos, Guatemaltecans, Vietnamese, Hondurans, El Salvadorians) who prepare themselves to become religious missionary priests in the future. During their studies, we instill in them the love for the indigent, indigenous and immigrants.
The Missionaires of Jesus made thier Mission Appeal at St. Luke Church, San Diego as part of the Missionary Cooperation Plan 2022.
By Rev. Percy Bacani, MJ, Superior Missionaries of Jesus, USA